Words and photos by Ashley Joanna
Edited by Breandán Kearney
Humans of Belgian Beer is a series of photographic portraits which celebrate a people and their culture.
Marta Resmini spent 12 years working to obtain her PhD at the University of Leuven. 12 years of dedication and hard work. 12 years that would culminate in her trying to finalise her Philosophy thesis. 12 years in which she was fascinated by human connection and understanding.
But during those 12 years, she had also come to immerse herself in the Belgian beer world. So much so that she was offered a job in beer and faced a serious choice: finish the final section of her Philosophy thesis and make a life from her PhD; or take a job with a young upstart brewery in Brussels called Brasserie De La Senne as their Marketing & Sales Representative.
Italian Marta Resmini moved from Milan to Leuven in 2008 knowing no one and having to learn a new language. She first came to Belgium to finish her Masters degree in Philosophy and fell in love with the country and its culture. Soon, she had moved to Brussels and was embarking on her PhD.
“Philosophy for me was about opening my third eye, and thinking about how to live a better life in a more sustainable world,” says Marta. “To start conversations about the meaning of life and politics. This was the reason I started studying Philosophy in the first place.”
Belgium was different to Italy. Marta would walk aimlessly through the streets of Brussels, looking at art and visiting specialist beer shops. She became a regular at Brasserie de la Senne, stopping in every Friday to pick up her crate—of Zinnebir, Taras Boulba, or Stouterik—for the weekend, socialising with the brewery staff while she was there.
As Marta’s fascination with beer grew, her draft thesis began collecting dust. One of the owners of Brasserie de la Senne, Yvan De Baets, noticed Marta’s interest, and lent her parts of a brewing kit to experiment with making her own beer at home. When Marta found more joy in brewing beer out of her bathroom than attending school, the completion of her thesis seemed to move further away.
On one occasion, Marta made a Tiramisu and used De La Senne’s Brusseleir Black IPA of 8% ABV as the dip for the biscuits instead of coffee. The beer’s coco and roasted coffee profile added a richness to the Italian dessert. She biked over to the brewery with the Tiramisu in her hand and when the owners saw and tasted it, they immediately offered her a part-time job.
That original part-time job prefaced an offer not long after for a full-time position at the brewery and Marta faced that important choice. But in the end, it wasn’t really much of a choice. She full-heartedly quit her PhD and hasn’t looked back since.
“Happiness is not always about making as much money as we can and getting as many degrees as we can,” says Marta. “I became happier when I finally decided I was in a good place at this moment and did not need to strive for a piece of paper to make me fulfilled.”
That was six years ago and counting. Marta is now the Commercial Representative for Sales at Brasserie De La Senne, taking care of customers in Brussels and the Wallonia Region. Although she never received the “paper” that says she completed her Philosophy PhD, she still uses everything she learned during that time in her everyday life. The reason Marta loves beer is the same reason she loves philosophy—human connection and understanding.
“No academic knowledge is worth the human experience and knowledge you can get when you simply sit down and talk to people,” says Marta. “The most important aspect in life is character. It is not about what I do, but how I do it, and the people whom I share it with.”
No academic knowledge is worth the human experience and knowledge you can get when you simply sit down and talk to people.
Marta Resmini
